Exhortation, the false ties of kinship
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
कां रे माझीं पोरें ह्मणसील ढोरें । मायबाप खरें काय एक ॥1॥
कां रे गेलें ह्मणोनि करिसी तळमळ । मिथ्याचि कोल्हाळ मेलियाचा ॥ध्रु.॥
कां रे माझें माझें ह्मणसील गोत । नो संडविती दूत यमा हातीं ॥2॥
कां रे मी बिळया ह्मणविसी ऐसा । सरणापाशीं कैसा उचलविसी ॥3॥
तुका ह्मणे न धरीं भरवसा कांहीं । वेगीं शरण जाई पांडुरंगा ॥4 ॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Why do you call your children cattle and say they are yours? What makes you a true parent? Why do you grieve and wail over one who has died? The mourning over the dead is all a false commotion. Why do you claim kinfolk as your own? They will not save you from the hands of Yama's messengers. Why do you call yourself mighty? See how at the funeral pyre you must be lifted by others. Says Tuka, place no trust in any of this. Hasten and take refuge in Panduranga.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Why do you call your children yours, as a beast counts its calves? What makes you a true parent? Why do you grieve and wail when someone has died? The mourning over the dead is all a false uproar. Why do you call your kinfolk your own? They will not save you from the hands of Yama's messengers. Why do you boast that you are mighty? See how at the funeral pyre you have to be lifted by others. Tuka says: put no trust in any of this. Hurry and take refuge in Panduranga.
What it means
Tukaram presses hard on the bonds we are most sure of: children, kin, our own strength. He asks what really makes them yours, and answers that none of them holds when death comes. The wailing over a corpse he calls a false commotion, because the relatives doing the mourning cannot stop Yama's messengers from taking you, nor can they keep you from taking the same road. Even the strong man, who thinks himself mighty, has to be carried to the pyre by other hands. The exhortation is not contempt for family; it is a warning against leaning your whole weight on what cannot bear it. Lean on Panduranga instead, and do it soon.
Appeals and Exhortations
Direct calls to action: wake up, seek God, do not waste this human birth.
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